Tunisia, Tunis: clashes between footbal fans and cops“…more than 1,000 fans of club Esperance Sportive de Tunis gathered Monday evening in the working class Bab Souika neighborhood of Tunis. Chibani said the crowd attacked a government building with stones and bottles, before police fired back with tear gas.”

14/1/18:

Tunisia, Feriana: more clashes and roads blocked…similarly in Tunis (Ettadhamen…and Kram) More here, which mentions “Sidi Ali Ben Aoun (Sidi Bouzid)… Ettadhamen city (Ariana) and Douar Hicher ( Manouba) where, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Khalifa Chibani, young insurgents have erected barricades across the streets and clashed with the lackeys of power. In Nabeul, the cops reported 26 arrests, 11 of which were directly related to clashes with the police and various looting of shops, customs depots and state buildings. During the night of Sunday to Monday, there were anonymous burning tires in several streets and stones thrown at the police. In Sidi Ali Ben Aoun, others tried to break into a warehouse owned by Tunisian Customs, only just prevented by the cops. In Sidi Bouzid, a group of insurgents damaged a high voltage power cable, causing a power cut in some areas”…and morehere in English…Longish reformist article here “Tebourba is a prison” said Oussema Ellafi, an unemployed 32-year-old …”If you have connections, you work. Those who are deserving, don’t work. You go to the [local government] office and ask them to find you work and they say there’s only farm work. What’s this farm work? They’re making fun of us, giving us a [sedative] pill… Just be hungry and shut up.”…in Tebourba, and in poor towns and areas across the country, there’s a different, more desperate and raw anger….Without organised leadership and structure, the opposition protests will likely remain volatile.” I’d guess that implicit in this is the desire on the part of certain sections to offer themselves to the state as some future “organised leadership and structure” to prevent these movements from becoming volatile, possibly organisations such as Manich Msamah (‘I Will Not Forgive’) or the Fech Nestannew (‘What are we waiting for?’) campaigns. The miserable history of all the organisations which aim to tame social explosions is that they start off as benign reformists subservient to a modification of dominant “realism” and end up as part of the ruling racket.

13/1/18:

Tunisia, Siliana: clashes between stone throwing youths and teargas-throwing cops as youths block roads with burning tyres…state to hand out crumbs of comfort to the poorest families in response to riotsThe proposal is to pay out $70 million as well as improved healthcare to 250,000 families (probably about 10% of the population), which works out at $280 per family. Whereas, the annual defence budget for the ruling class (officially “the country”) doubled from over $480 million in 2011 to over $960 million in 2017 (here). This says “Among the few “decisions” that he announced yesterday in an attempt to contain the anger, Min. of Social Affairs mentioned the creation of a guarantee fund to allow citizens w/ “unregular income” to get housing loans…This is NOT a new decision. It was already in the Finance Law 2018, Article 59…This fund was not intended to be used as a support people from the low-income/vulnerable working class from the industrial/agricultural sector or the informal sector. It is a fund for “economically active” liberal professionals in legally regulated sectors…Usually banks require from clients a “salary domiciliation” signed by their employers to make sure that they have a stable job that allows them to pay back the loans. Liberal professionals cannot provide this doc. It is about financial risk management, not welfare. On the other side, the Finance Law created a high VAT on real estate that will prevent so many low-income people from having access to housing…. I think that VAT measure was meant to tackle speculation on real estate … And that first home buyers have separate tax incentives? With the devaluation of the dinar, the upper middle class have sought to protect their wealth buying land and apts creating a real estate bubble.”

Tunisia, Sejnane: 200 attack National Guard gendarmerie during General Strike demo against lack of investment & unemployment in area“Violence had already occurred on Friday in Sejnane (Bizerte governorate) in response to the death in hospital of a woman who tried self-immolation by fire last month in protest against the removal of social assistance. According to the Interior Ministry, protesters set fire to the headquarters of a local social affairs unit and broke the windows of the sub-prefecture. Police officers had been injured, the ministry added, without specifying their numbers. A first general strike was observed in the city on November 22nd, days after the attempted self-immolation at the headquarters of the sub-prefecture of Radhia Mechregui, who died in early December during her hospitalization. …This mother of five wanted to protest against the cancellation of the welfare payment of 150 dinars (51 euros) from her husband, sick, after several unanswered claims. “The act of despair and anger of Radhia Mechergui was the spark that triggered the anger of the inhabitants of Sejnane,” said November 22, Mr. Barhoumi, UGTT. “The temperature in the street is at boiling point,” he said.“

Tunisia, Kerkennah: further clashes with cops over unemployment“Clashes took place on the night of Thursday to Friday in Kerkennah between police and protesters after the latter blocked the arrival of six trucks of the Petrofac company from the port of Sidi Youssef…Acts of vandalism and violence occurred in an area where several protesters gathered outside the port, threw various objects and threw gas canisters on fire in the direction of the security agents. … A general strike was observed on Tuesday in Kerkennah, scene of several days of tension, following the intervention of the security forces on 3 April, to disperse a sit-in of unemployed outside the offices of the company Petrofac.” More here. “On April 18, in the archipelago of Kerkennah, the use of force against the blocking of the oil company Petrofac degenerated into riots. … Since January 19, the oil company Petrofac,…was blocked by protesters who demand the Government keep its promises about jobs….The only reaction of the State: the use of force, which degenerated into riots on 18 April. …To reduce unemployment, the state has helped 266 unemployed people, including university graduates, with an “environmental program” funded by Petrofac since 2011 through the Regional Council of Sfax. They obtained jobs in the government of the island without having a contract or social security coverage. They now demand the regularization of their situation, under agreements with the government in April 2015, while Petrofac’s lack of transparency in the management of its funds, has suspended its funding program since late 2015. …In fact, the government’s room for maneuver is limited: the fiscal deficit forced the state to reduce hiring.”

Tunisia: “A spokesperson for the National Guard has told Mosaique FM that 123 people were arrested during the country’s first night of curfew, with 18 members of the National Guard wounded. No details have been given on the number of protesters injured. 23 vehicles belonging to the National Guard were also damaged during clashes with protesters. Five Guard Posts were also damaged during disturbances. Seven people were arrested in Karouan while attempting to drill a hole through the wall off the Promogro shopping centre there…The Ministry of the Interior have announced the arrest of 261 individuals for looting, 84 ones for breaking curfew, with 109 security officers injured. It is unclear if these figures include those quoted by the National Guard.”

This comment talks of the amount of arrests and other things; it also says that the Arabic word for “totalitarian” has, over the last few years of demockrazy, been tagged on the walls of military buildings and some people have been calling for the collapse of the state (though I suspect, fairly few, and the comment gives no details; still – interesting). [SF]

Morehere: “It’s as if we were back in 2010-2011,” Al Shuruk newspaper wrote …Tensions remain high in Kasserine, where security forces have used tear gas and water cannon against crowds of hundreds of demonstrators, and the protests have since Tuesday spread to nearby towns. As on the previous days, protesters on Thursday set up roadblocks with burning tyres and pelted security forces with stones,…In Feriana, 30km away, a policeman was killed on Wednesday during an operation to disperse demonstrators…he died when his vehicle was overturned….As the protests spread, protesters on Thursday cut off roads in Sidi Bouzid and clashed with police, while similar demonstrations were reported in the central towns of Jendouba, Gafsa and Kebili”

and here: “Tunisian police firing tear gas clashed on Thursday with hundreds of protesters who set fire to police posts and tried to storm local government buildings in towns across the country in the largest protests since the 2011 “Arab Spring” uprising….Protesters set fire to a police station in the town of Guebeli in southern Tunisia and officers abandoned another post in Kef in the northwest…Later on Thursday night, the protests spread to the capital where rioters burned a small police post in the poor Tunis district of Cite El Intilaka and residents set alight tyres in the streets of Cite Ettadhamen district”

And here“…a fractious night that saw protests in a number of the capital’s suburbs. Districts, Ettadhamen , Sidi Hassan , Mnihla and Intilaka all saw disturbances through the night, with police reporting damage to shops, supermarkets and a bank. Protests in Ettadhamen continued until 5am, with Police arresting six. … a number of police stations had been set on fire, including ones at Douz and Gabes. Several police cars are also understood to have been burnt.”

More here: “Relative peace reported in Kasserine, but protests persist in frontof the governorate headquarters.Following the Ministers’ announcement of a development plan for Kasserine, protests erupt in other interior regions—including Sidi Bouzid, Gafsa, Jendouba, Beja, Gabès, Tozeur and Medenine—demanding similar government interventions. Security forces clash with protesters and apply tear gas in Mahdia. Demonstrations spread throughout the governorate of Sidi Bouzid. A man attempts to self-immolate in Nefta, near Tozeur. In Siliana, protesters surround the governorate headquarters. In Kairouan and Enfidha, demonstrators enter and occupy governorate headquarters. In the distric oft Skhira, near Sfax, protesters set fire to tires and block traffic.”

And here: “It’s as if we were back in 2010-2011,” Al Shuruk newspaper wrote …Tensions remain high in Kasserine, where security forces have used tear gas and water cannon against crowds of hundreds of demonstrators, and the protests have since Tuesday spread to nearby towns. As on the previous days, protesters on Thursday set up roadblocks with burning tyres and pelted security forces with stones,…In Feriana, 30km away, a policeman was killed on Wednesday during an operation to disperse demonstrators…he died when his vehicle was overturned….As the protests spread, protesters on Thursday cut off roads in Sidi Bouzid and clashed with police, while similar demonstrations were reported in the central towns of Jendouba, Gafsa and Kebili”

and here, from France24: “Tunisian police firing tear gas clashed on Thursday with hundreds of protesters who set fire to police posts and tried to storm local government buildings in towns across the country in the largest protests since the 2011 “Arab Spring” uprising….Protesters set fire to a police station in the town of Guebeli in southern Tunisia and officers abandoned another post in Kef in the northwest…Later on Thursday night, the protests spread to the capital where rioters burned a small police post in the poor Tunis district of Cite El Intilaka and residents set alight tyres in the streets of Cite Ettadhamen district”

More here: “El Ksiba the capital of the governorate where clashes between the security forces and youth …manifested themselves by throwing projectiles and burning tires. The security forces had to respond by launching tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. Some distance away, on the east bank of the canal, at Zarzouna, other youth groups went on to burn tires and block roads…At the Ennasr city of Mateur, a dozen people blocked the road in the industrial area by piling up branches and burning tires.”

As a nationwide curfew is announced, state propaganda claims that the extension of the state of emergency is due to an increase in the threat of terrorism, rather neatly revealing how such states of emergency – whether in Tunisia, France or elsewhere – are almost invariably a pretext for cracking down on proletarian subversion (just in case anybody reading this was naive enough to have any doubts about it).

“Essebsi reminded the protesters in his Friday speech that the country is under a state of emergency, banning all forms of demonstrations. The General Labor Union, which won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in reconciling the country after the Arab Spring, called for a national dialogue between political parties and civil society groups to find solutions in response of the protests.” – here: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/tunisia-imposes-curfew-following-nationwide-demonstrations-182725904?#sthash.kAmI6eP7.dpuf” Another neat reminder of how unions, Nobel peace prizes, political parties and civil society groups are all united in trying to find ways of presenting continuing misery as “solutions in response of [sic] the protests”. [SF]

The Tunisian unions seem to be looking for another Peace Prize — maybe this year it will be shared between them, Obama and the Pope: a global congratulations to the beloved leaders of the workers, the free world and the faithful respectively. A far cry from the sentiments of George Bernard Shaw who refused this great honor saying ‘I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize’. It is astonishing that so many radicals in this day and age continue to fancy that these rackets are or ever can be useful in revolutionary struggle as ‘organs of the working class’. [SK]

20/1/16:

Tunisia: cop killed as movement against unemployment continues into 2nd day (video)“Large crowds burned tyres and chanted “Work, Freedom, Dignity during the violent protests” An oxymoronic slogan; freedom and dignity certainly go together – but work…? In a world where proletarians are increasingly surplus to the requirements of surplus value, unemployment is bound to rise, but work is not the answer to unemployment, but merely the other side of the coin, the threat making those who have work grateful for their relatively better situation and more submissive than when unemployment is low.

“Organizers stage protests in Tunis and Sousse in solidarity with Kasserine’s demands that the government solve the problem of unemployment. Protests in Kasserine resume and spread to small towns throughout the governorate, including Majel. Bel Abbes and Foussana…Following an emergency meeting, the Council of Ministers announces a plan to hire 5,000 unemployed individuals in Kasserine for public sector jobs and to undertake major infrastructure reforms in the region.

19/1/16:

Tunisia: at least 4 towns experience violent clashes with cops over unemployment after suicide of young man “The protests erupted in Kasserine, where the young man killed himself, apparently over the lack of job opportunities, residents said, and later spread to three other towns or cities in the country’s impoverished central, southern region. Tunisia’s “Arab Spring” uprising in 2011 was sparked when a struggling young market vendor committed suicide, unleashing a tide of anger among the young, unemployed that eventually forced longtime autocrat leader Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali to step down and flee the country. “Security forces chased the protesters in the streets of the city and fired tear gas,” …Hundreds of unemployed protesters had gathered in front of the headquarters of the Kasserine governorate, where some threatened to commit suicide, prompting tear gas salvoes by security forces to scatter them….clashes continued into the night there and spread to the other cities of Tahla, Fernana, Meknasi…Protesters chanted: “Work, freedom and dignity,” according to one resident. In Meknasi, groups of young men took to the streets and set alight tires in solidarity with protests in Kasserine”

“Morning: Following a meeting between protesters and political leaders that failed to produce an agreement, several unemployed graduates attempt suicide by jumping from the roof of the governorate headquarters. Two individuals are injured and taken to the hospital. Protesters block the streets with burning tires and clash with security forces in the neighborhoods of Ennour and Ezzouhour in Kasserine. Social media reports that police used tear gas to disperse the protests. 3 P.M.: Curfew declared in Kasserine from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. 8 P.M.: Protesters defy curfew and set fire to Nidaa Tounes’s [governing party] office in Kasserine and attempt to do the same at the governorate headquarters. 9 P.M.: Protests spread to the towns of Thala and Feriana, as well as parts of Sidi Bouzid.

3/12/15:

Tunisia, Sfax: striking council workers block all entrances to town hall, preventing the mayor, amongst others, from entering“The protesters contest “bad working conditions, outdated hardware and insecure premises,” according to a union source. The demonstration degenerated into clashes with police who used tear gas to disperse it. There were two or three wounded, according to eyewitnesses at the scene. The staff protest eventually blocked the road from the main Sfax downtown avenue (opposite the town hall) by using large trucks belonging to the council. According to the same source, in protest against the “muscular” intervention of the police, the regional office of the UGTT called for solidarity from port staff and that of SORETRAS to stop their activities today and to block access to the city with company buses.”

Tunisia, Ben Guerdane: general strike as movement against taxation of Libyans crossing border is renewed (see 8/2/15) More here“…despite the peaceful nature of the march, the participants headed to the square of the Great Arab Maghreb in the city, burned tires and threw stones, causing the situation to slip into clashes with the security forces who used tear gas to subdue protesters. According to the ULT, the strike has achieved a success rate of 99%, however, with no response to the demands of the protesters. … the protesters say they are committed to the pursuit of their movement, considering it “a revolution of the hungry and a spark towards a new revolution that seeks to get to the area’s plundered wealth…”

Tunisia: several riots in response to the elections (continuing into the 23rd Dec)“A number of riots erupted in many regions and cities after the announcement of the election results announcing the victory of Beji Caid Essebsi. The damage assessment to the town of El Hamma at Gabes is the heaviest in the country. Sixteen security guards were wounded, police stations, the post of the National Guard and the district security building were burned… in Jomna under the jurisdiction of Kebili Sud, a group of youths barricaded the road between the two jurisdictions of Kebili and Douz with burning tires during the day on Monday, December 22, 2014…The popular neighborhood of Kram ….on the night of Monday to Tuesday, December 23, 2014 was the scene of violent clashes between police and dozens of “protestors”. Tear gas was fired to disperse the crowds…”

Tunisia, Kasserine: General Strike against lousy living conditions; police post attacked (more here and here) (video here) “Dozens of protesters tried on Wednesday to force their way into the offices of the ruling Islamist party Ennahda in the town of Kasserine, but were pushed away by tear gas fired by police…In the village of Thala, which lies in the Kasserine region and had already witnessed clashes on Tuesday evening, protesters attacked a police post, partially burning it and driving away the security forces, witnesses said….A policeman was injured during the clashes after he was hit by a tear gas canister fired at him by one of his colleagues.”